A Winter's Day
by winterune
Summary: It is six months after Natsume Takashi was born and Reiko is still grieving over her daughter's death.


**A/N:** This is a submission for the natsumeweek fandom event in tumblr.  
Prompt: Greeting/Goodbye  
This is my first time participating in any fandom event and it was quite fun writing this. I'm not entirely sure if the story is about greeting/goodbye. I hope it is. And since in the manga/anime Reiko died young, I have always thought Reiko died before Takashi was born, so I guess this is a bit of a "what if...?" And I'm sorry if the ending is weird haha. Anyway, hope you enjoy reading it^^

* * *

All her life, she had thought luck was never on her side. Shunned by her family, shunned by her friends, shunned by everyone in the entire town, she had always thought she would live her life forever alone. But here she was, sitting on the porch of her daughter's home—

No, it was not her daughter's home anymore.

Dead. Her daughter was dead. She was gone. That bright source of life.

The girl who always had her back straight, her chin up, as if she was ready at anything the world threw at her. The girl who loved flowers and knew the name and meaning of every flower and wanted to open a flower shop one day. The girl with the strong, courageous, kind heart who never left her side.

That child she had raised for twenty-five years by herself was not part of this world anymore. Like a bright warm light snuffed out so easily.

"Mother."

Reiko looked up. A man was standing behind her, holding a baby in his arms. Her son-in-law, the man with whom her daughter had chosen to spend the rest of her life.

Reiko never knew why this young man chose her daughter. Surely everyone knew about her. She couldn't understand why anyone wanted to associate with someone with a mother like her. But Reiko never asked. Maybe she was still afraid. She didn't want to know his reasons. Just the fact that he _had_ chosen her daughter was enough. The fact that he even ran away with her to escape his family was enough. She knew how much her daughter had loved this man. Reiko didn't want to damage that.

So Reiko stood up and held her hands over to him with a smile. "Here," she said as she took her grandson from his father.

"Thanks," her son-in-law said. "Sorry, I just need to make lunch for a bit."

"Ah… no, I should—"

"That's okay. You're the guest right now and I need someone to watch over Takashi for a while."

Reiko felt bad that she wasn't helping but she let her son-in-law disappear around the corner to the kitchen. She remembered just last year how she was cooking dinner there with her daughter…

Reiko sighed. Going here was a mistake. She still wasn't ready. It had already been six months and she was still not ready to face this house where so many memories of her child still persisted.

She felt movements in her arms and saw Takashi squirming lightly. Reiko tightened her arms around the six-month old baby and made soothing sounds. "There, there." She gently swayed her body from side to side. "There, there."

Takashi. The name her daughter had given to her son. He had a soft face like his mother. His hair—pale, dusty blonde—was soft like his mother's. Takashi had stopped squirming and was sleeping soundly against her chest. A smile tugged at Reiko's lips.

"You know, Takashi-kun, I used to be a lot stronger. I got into fights a lot and at the end of the day, I was always covered in mud. Well, it's either that, or bruises. You'd think I was a thug—well, I did carry a baseball bat a lot, but… I had fun. No, I don't mean beating youkai is fun, and I didn't really beat them up with a baseball bat. Thinking about it, I guess they were probably my only friends. I never spent much time with them, though…" Her voice trailed off.

A lump formed in her throat and she found it hard to speak.

"Your mother was a wonderful person. She was the bravest, kindest person I knew and it's a shame you will never know her." Reiko chuckled. "I know I raised her but she always managed to surprise me in any way she could."

Takashi let out some noises and it appeared Reiko had woken him up. But he didn't cry. He only yawned and blinked his eyes, looking up and meeting her face. He babbled and cooed and reached a gloved hand to her face. Reiko smiled.

"Good afternoon, little one," she said quietly. "Did you have a good nap?"

He blinked then looked around and that's when Reiko realized the snow. It was snowing.

"Oh, look, Takashi-kun. It's snowing!"

Takashi was enraptured by the falling puffs of snow. Reiko dared to step into the yard and when snow fell on Takashi's head, he shook his head and laughed and smiled and it was the warmest thing Reiko had felt in months.

His laughter died almost suddenly and Reiko saw him staring at something.

"What?"

She followed his gaze—

Toward her daughter's neglected garden. Her son-in-law had tried to plant some flowers, but failed, so now it was only a fenced-in space of dirt with patches of snow here and there. And there, among the rocks and pebbles and snow was a shadow.

A shadow with glowing white eyes that blinked.

Reiko's heart beat went up. Not at the shadow itself, but at Takashi.

He could see it.

"Reiko~~" the shadow whispered but it was as loud in her ears as a thunder cracking the sky. "Reiko~~"

Reiko had learned not to pay too much attention on things that could not be seen or heard by others. And she would have managed to ignore the shadow-youkai if Takashi's gaze had not been so raptured by it.

But what surprised her was that he was not afraid. His eyes lit up at the sight of the shadow-youkai.

"Reiko-san?"

Reiko's head jerked up.

It was a voice she never knew yet felt so familiar.

And there stood a boy, teenage, around fifteen or sixteen, with dusty-blonde hair and gold eyes. When their eyes met, he couldn't hide his surprise that she had seen him, and she knew without a doubt who he was and that he was real and maybe that was that youkai's doing or some other youkai's doing because there was no way her grandson had grown so much in such little time.

"Reiko—"

The apparition disappeared, as if blown by the wind. But the shadow-youkai was still there and Reiko decided to bring Takashi back into the house.

 **~ O ~**

Takashi opened his eyes. He was on the ground. Huge trees surrounded him. And it wasn't snowing. The leaves were gold and yellow and the ground was littered with dead leaves.

"You're finally awake," an annoyed voice came from his chest.

Nyanko-sensei was sitting there.

"You're heavy, Sensei," Takashi groaned.

Sensei leaped onto the ground. "Seriously! How long did you have to sleep?"

"I saw Reiko-san," Takashi murmured, sitting up slowly. "And I saw my father. And my old home. And Reiko-san… she saw me."

Nyanko-sensei blinked. "I guess that was that Ayakashi's doing."

"What?"

"You just returned his name, remember? I guess he has the ability to bring you to the past."

Ayakashi? Now that he thought about it, he did just return the name to a shadow-youkai.

"So it's not just seeing their memories like usual?" Takashi asked slowly.

"Yes," said a deep voice. It came from the trees. Takashi turned his head around but couldn't locate the source of the voice. "I brought you to see Reiko."

"Why?"

"You saw my memories. I had been searching for her to ask for my name back, but she had grown old and she had grown sad and she was not the Reiko I used to know. I decided to leave her be, then, and let her keep my name. I did not expect to meet her grandson in the town where she used to live, and I did not expect her to have given you the book. I am sorry that she had passed away. I would love to know how she met her end because the last time I saw her, Reiko was grieving the loss of her only daughter. Letting her meet you, even only for a fraction of a second, had given her joy beyond measure.

"As a thank you gift, here—"

A small envelope floated down from the foliage until it landed safely on Takashi's up-turned palms.

"A letter from Reiko. Thank you, and farewell."

A gust of wind blew through the trees, shaking the leaves. Birds took flight in terror and animals immediately burrowed into their dens. Takashi kept a strong hold on the envelope until the wind died down and everything was quiet.

"He's gone," he whispered to himself.

"Are you going to open that?" Nyanko-sensei asked. "If not, let's go home so we won't be late for Touko's dinner!"

"Wait, Sensei," Takashi told him as he settled into a more comfortable position and opened the envelope. Inside was a piece of paper, yellow on the edges, the ink already fading.

 **~ o ~**

 _Hello, Takashi-kun,_

 _I'm Reiko, your grandmother. This must be a bit sudden to you. I don't know when you will read this but when you do, there is a chance that I might not be there anymore. In fact, I have a feeling I won't be able to see grow up. That is quite a shame because I know you will become a wonderful boy._

 _Takashi-kun, I would like to apologize. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Takashi-kun. If you somehow have gotten to know your relatives, you would have heard one or two things about me. I'm sorry. I can't say sorry enough. I have the ability to see youkai and I know that you can too, Because of that, many people don't like me and I have lived a life isolated by everyone. I'm sorry that you might lead a similar life like mine. I know it's scary that you can see things other people can't. I know people may shun you and hate you for it and you may feel the need to close yourself and shut everyone out. But trust me, Takashi-kun, that that doesn't apply to everyone._

 _There are people who love you. There are people who will love you. Believe in that, Takashi-kun._

 _I made a mistake. I made a mistake of not trusting anyone. I didn't even trust my own daughter fully. Even though she had always stayed true beside me in all her twenty-five years of living, I couldn't bring myself to trust her fully. So please, Takashi-kun. Don't make the same mistakes I made. Don't hate them. Don't hate youkai. Don't hate people. Believe in them. Believe in those who stayed with you._

 _You know, Takashi-kun, I saw you, once, on a winter day. It might have been a trick of the light, but I knew with all my heart that what I saw was real. It was you, Takashi-kun. You've grown, and healthy, and you look exactly like your mother and father. If anything, I think you look quite like me too haha. I wish I could have known you._

 _Anyway, I don't know when you will read this, but wherever you are, whenever it is, I wish for you wellbeing and happiness._

 _P.S. I have a book I want you to have. I'll just slip this letter inside it so you'll know which one I'm talking about. It has names of the friends I made when I was at school. I want you to keep it. It is a very precious treasure of mine. Keep it safe._

 _Love,_

 _Natsume Reiko_

 **~ o ~**

"Reiko-san wanted me to keep it safe, Sensei," Takashi said.

"Well yes. You keep it safe until you die and then the book belongs to me. That was our deal," Nyanko-sensei said as he washed a paw.

Takashi made an exaggerated sigh. "Until the day I die doesn't mean you can slack off in your bodyguard duty, Sensei," Takashi retorted.

"What?" Sensei leaped to four feet and hissed. "Who says I'm your bodyguard? You are my prey."

"Yes, yes," Takashi said. He stood up. "Come on, Sensei, let's go home. I'll treat you manju on the way home."

Sensei grinned. "Yay! Manju!"

Takashi stashed the letter in his bag, beside the Book of Friends, and took one last look at the forest he was leaving. There was no more trace of the shadow-youkai, or any youkai.

 _Thank you, Reiko-san. And hello to you too_.

 **~ END ~**


End file.
